1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light weight gondola type open top railway car having an aerodynamically configured structure to increase its energy efficiency during transit in each a loaded and unloaded condition.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Gondola type open top railway cars are typically formed into trains and used to haul bulk cargoes, such as coal, grains or mining ores. Due to the typical specialized nature of the cargo, gondola type cars are often used to form a train consisting of only gondola cars and the train, frequently comprised of one hundred or more gondola cars pulled by one or more locomotives, hauls coal from a source, such as a Montana or Wyoming mine, to a user, such as a utility in the Midwest. After being unloaded, as by each car in the train being serially tipped upside down and dumped at a dumping station, the same train is pulled empty back to the coal source to be loaded, as by "flood" loading while moving and then repeats the trip. Due to the great frequency of the trips made and distances traversed each trip, and energy saving, generally measured in terms of reduced fuel consumption, which can be gained by making the cars easier to pull can be significant.
Conventional cars, for purposes of durability due to the rough service conditions they are subjected to, have generally been constructed of steel arranged to provide strength and durability and decreased aerodynamic drag has generally not been a design criterion.